


Island Decay

by Bad_Grades



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: (not just background!), (the relationships are heavy plot points actually), Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Major Illness, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-18 06:12:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bad_Grades/pseuds/Bad_Grades
Summary: Alola was a relatively peaceful place, the sea isolating it from the rest of the world. It was because of the sea that let Alola’s people live so peacefully, somehow untouched by the rest of the world's perils. This being said, sometimes that means Alola got left out when it came to being updated on the rest of the world’s breaking news, so when some unsuspecting tourist trying to seek refuge brought over some virus, Alola was caught completely off guard. It wasn’t long before that virus spread from person to person, taking over at a rapid speed that no one could stop. As Alola found itself succumbing to the virus, there was only one thing left for the survivors to do.Run.-(Pokemon are regular animals in this AU. Everyone is slightly older at this point, making Moon, Hau, and Gladion around 15-16. Chapters should be coming out regularly!)





	1. Arrival

Alola was a relatively peaceful place, the sea isolating it from the rest of the world. It was because of the sea that let Alola’s people live so peacefully, somehow untouched by the rest of the world's perils. This being said, sometimes that means Alola got left out when it came to being updated on the rest of the world’s breaking news, so when some unsuspecting tourist trying to seek refuge brought over some virus, Alola was caught completely off guard. It wasn’t long before that virus spread from person to person, only ‘activating’ once someone died.  
  
The first victim, the tourist was reported to have died in a hospital, surrounded by medical staff when they had turned. While some managed to escape the room, they brought their bites with them, and soon succumbed to the infection the bite delivered. Within a few short weeks, all of Akala Island had gone under. The biggest island of them all had become a wasteland, and all islands except Poni began accepting survivors.  
  
Unfortunately, the people offering refuge soon found out their mercy was going to be their demise. It was then that the disease only isolated on Akala suddenly spread to Melemele and Ula’ula island, leading them to the same fate of the last island. Undead left places completely wrecked, hospitals and cities being the most dangerous. The safest way to live was by travelling, preferably by boat. The undead can’t swim, so the middle of the sea was the safest way to survive now.  


  
Moon knew she should probably be grateful, out on the sea and safe, but she doesn’t feel it. Her stomach rolled as she took everything in, staring blankly out at sea. She had escaped narrowly from her own house after watching her own mother turn after succumbing from a bite. Afterwards, she’d quickly found Kukui, who had been bunking with a few others in his lab. With him was Hau, Hala, Burnet, and his pet dog, all making plans to leave. Once Moon had joined them, they hijacked a boat and set out, hoping to find refuge at the Aether Foundation. With Poni Island’s ports off limits, that was the only place left to go.  
  
“I just got in contact with Wicke” Burnet called, stepping out from the inside of the boat’s cockpit. “The infection has reached there too, but she says most of the zombies were thrown overboard. They’re closed off, but she says she’ll allow us to stay there.”  
  
“Anything about Lillie?” Hau pipes up, looking nervous. The girl had gone off to Kanto just a few years prior to the apocalypse, but they hadn’t heard from her since. Seeing as Kanto was one of the first places to become diseased, it was rational to think the worst had happened.  
  
“…No. Last time she contacted anyone at all was a month ago. She won’t pick up her phone either.” Burnet sighed, looking sympathetic.  
  
Hau’s face dropped a little, and turned his eyes back to the sea.  
  
“She’s a strong girl, I’m sure she’s found someplace to survive.” Kukui stated soundly, currently acting as the light of the group.

Out of everyone, he seemed to be the most stable, as if everything were under control. The blood stains on his lab jacket screamed otherwise, though. From what Moon had gathered, Kukui had the most experience dealing with the Undead so far. When he went to go fetch Burnet, he had to walk through hell and back. Most of the adults had blood on their hands by now, unable to escape the horrors that had befallen them, but Hau and Moon couldn’t bring themselves to kill anything, even if they knew they had to at some point. It was only a matter of time.  
  
“Kukui, you should really put a shirt on. You’re exposed that way.” Burnet chided, handing him a bag.  
  
“Hm, I guess you’re right, I don’t know how exactly one would be able to bite into my chest though.” He wonders aloud, fishing a shirt out of the bag. I’ll be right back, we should be at Aether in a few minutes.”  
  
  
Moon didn’t know if she wanted to go to Aether or not. While it had food and resources, it also had a lot of people and frankly, people were both a blessing and a curse. It was nice to have a group, there was a sense of security, but large amounts of people meant fighting for resources and running the risk that someone could go crazy. Frankly, if it meant surviving, Moon would much rather go by herself than live in Aether.  
  
A groan broke her thoughts as the boat nudged something, drifting past in the water was a bloated undead body. From what she can tell, the uniform us most certainly Aether, but the usually pristine white uniform was covered in blood and who knows what else. The bodies can’t swim right so they’re not at risk, but it freaks her out all the same. The one body turns into two, and before they know it, the bloated undead surrounded them as they head towards Aether.  
  
“This must be what Wicke was talking about.” Hala said, looking pale. “They really did throw them overboard.”  
  
“I thought they would of…uh…drowned.” Hau chokes out, looking just as sick as Moon was feeling. “Can they do that?”  
  
“Seeing as we’re surrounded, no.” Moon replied, retreating from the edge. “They’re dead. They don’t need air.”  
  
Hau just nodded in response.  
  
“Aether is just up ahead guys, get your stuff.” Kiawe called, “And keep your wits about you. We know these things can’t swim, but we don’t want any accidents happening.”  
  
As Aether came into view, Moon could see workers tossing both undead and soon to be undead bodies overboard from the side, clearly armed and decked in their impenetrable lab suits. While the walls of the floating safe haven were still white, Moon couldn’t help but feel something dirty about it. Something about it made her stomach flip.  
  
  
Just before the boat headed into a dock, she tipped herself over the side railing and got sick.


	2. Infirmary

“Oh god, is she ok?” Kukui called. Moon was dimly aware she was inside now, in the docks as Aether promised. She felt a hand press against her back, but it didn’t feel like Kukui’s. The hand was much gentler, something much more motherly.  
  
“Seasick?” Wicke asked, her face tight with concern. Her usually pristine white outfit had brown smudges on it, but nothing that implied anything more than blood. Moon wouldn’t doubt Wicke could kill when she needed to, if he _had_ to, but frankly she just couldn’t actually see Wicke hurting a fly.   
  
Moon swallowed, trying to find her voice. “A little. More overwhelmed than anything.”  
  
“That’s alright, we’ve had a few get sick themselves because of the stress. It’s not good for anyone.” She replied, helping Moon off the boat. “We’re glad to have you guys here. I haven’t seen what’s going on in the islands, but from the looks of you…” She paused, “it doesn’t look good.”  
  
“You’re right.” Hala spoke up, stepping front. “Akala is completely flooded with the dead we’re sure, and I haven’t had contact with anyone from Ula’ula since last week. And Melemele….” Something about his body language betrayed his own regret. “I didn’t ever think the Tapus would do this to us. What did we do to deserve this?”  
  
“It wasn’t the Tapus.” Hau supplied. “This came from somewhere else. It was spread through a tourist to Akala.”  
  
“It started in Kanto.” A voice sounded, “I’ve been reading some of the reports some scientist sent out before he went dead.”  
  
Standing behind them all was Gladion, his hoodie stained in matters that Moon didn’t even want to think about.   
  
“I heard the noise and I’d thought I’d come down. Is she bit?” He asked, looking mildly suspicious.  
  
Wicke turned around, looking Moon up and down. “No, I don’t see any blood on her…or bites, for that matter.”  
  
“She’s been with us the whole way here too, if she had been bit before that she would of turned by now.” Kukui pitched in, “She’s safe, just seasick.”  
  
Gladion nodded, tearing his eyes away. “She should go down to the infirmary anyway. We’ve had people turn, even without a bite.”  
  
Hau spoke up, his eyes as wide as saucers “Wait, what?”  
  
“He’s right. I’m no expert, but it seems like bite or no bite, anyone turns when they die.”  
  
“I won’t die just because I got seasick, Wicke.” Moon added, feeling defensive.  
  
Gladion huffed in response, “She’s not saying you will die, but from what we know, the virus lowers your immunity to sicknesses and makes it way easier to kick the bucket.”  
  
“Whoa whoa whoa, let me get this straight. It not only turns people into flesh eating monsters…” Hau said, looking absolutely spooked. “But it also makes you _so weak_ you can die from what? A common cold?”  
  
“Correct.”   
  
“Well shit.” Kukui stated.  
  
Moon huffed. “You can say that again”  
  
“Alright, now that you know…” Gladion said, “Get her down to the infirmary, we’re not risking anything right now.”  
  
-

  
The infirmary was just a remodeled lab, she figured out, but it worked well enough for what they were using it for. Wicke and some other Aether scientist hooked her up to some thingumajig that kept a close eye on her heart rate. All the patients, regardless of their condition, had been hooked up. From what she understood, it was supposed to let off an alarm when someone was in danger of dying.  
  
It was the middle of the night when something went off.   
  
Moon woke up with a start, never really asleep to begin with. She heard a muffled, droning sound from next door, not quite audible for everyone to hear, but when everything was quite, she could make it out.   
  
She felt herself go numb, listening to the sound until something stopped it. There was a light crashing sound, and then, nothing. The machine had fallen over from something.  
  
Then a groan sounded, and Moon grabbed the nearest sharp object.  
  
It just so happened to be a nail file, probably the sharpest thing she’d find without literally ripping things apart and making noise. She pawed around for her phone, but she couldn’t find it in the dark.  
  
She heard the solid taps of an employee walking down the hallway, passing by her door. There was a faint knock, and then the familiar swish of a metal door opening.   
  
“Sir, are you-“  
  
Moon wasn’t sure on what just happened, but she was glad for the metal walls that muffled the scene. She heard a scream and then guttural roar of whatever was left behind of the man in the room next to hers, the screaming of the employee cut off just a tad bit short as the savage sounds grew louder, more passionate in whatever it was doing.  
  
Moon felt like vomiting again.  
  
She forced herself to paw around for her phone again, this time finding it just on the edge of her nightstand. She dialled the first number she saw: Gladion.  
  
Gladion’s voice came through after a few antagonising seconds of dial tone. “Wha’…who is it?”

“Gladion? It’s Moon. Something’s wrong down in the Infirmary.”  
  
“Mm? Like what?”  
  
“I…I heard someone’s heart rate flatline. When someone came by to check…I think they…”  
  
Gladion cut her off, sounding slight more awake. “Shit, I told them to be more careful down there.” Moon could hear Hau in the background, disturbed by the emergency phonecall.  
  
“Glad? Where are you goin’?” He asked, “Why you puttin’ on a jacket?”  
  
“I-I..I’m checking on Moon. Something’s wrong.” Gladion replied, then went back to his phone. “I’ll be right there. I’m bringing Wicke….and whatever you do, _don’t make a fucking sound once you hang up._ Got it?”  
  
Moon swallowed hard, “Yea, got it.”  
  
“Alright, I’m on my way. Hang in there.”  
  
The line went dead, and all Moon was left with was the faint groaning from the now populated hallway, a new unhuman voice to match the second. Moon gripped the nail file tighter.  
  
There was no way she was going to get out of here without blood on her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alolaimagines.tumblr.com :V  
> (and just in case you were wondering, gladion and hau are sharing a room, that's why hau overheard gladion's call...lmao)


	3. Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took so long! ive been really busy lately with school :/ i hope u like it tho!

It takes 20 minutes for Moon to realize that a nail file won't get her out of there. Sure, it _might_ work, assuming she could just stab a zombie in the head and have it be over with, but if that wasn’t the case and Gladion and Wicke don’t get there in time to help her…she’s toast.  
  
When she gets up to roam the room for a better weapon, she makes noise in the process. The metal doors will protect her, she’s sure, but not for long. Moon knew they could have that door broken down in no time. Zombies didn’t have to worry about pain or fatigue, and because they haven’t decayed enough to lose their muscle strength, it was no trouble trying to pound down the metal blockade. By the time she was able to find anything substantial, she had noticed the zombies had beaten the door in enough to make an opening on the side and stick their arm through.  
  
Armed with a large metal handle she pried off a cabinet door, she stared at the arm desperately grasping through her door, it’s palm covered messily in blood. She had made a good amount of noise trying to get the handle off, attracting them to her. Taking a deep breath in, she stood far from the door, and waited. The metal handle was just a precaution, there was no way they were going to be able to get in before Gladion got here, right? They weren’t _that_ strong.  
  
Then one of them leaned the open switch on the outside by accident.  
  
Taking Moon by surprise, she resisted the urge to scream as the two bodies piled in, confused. Their reaction was delayed, but as soon as they smelled her, they got back up and began to lumber her way.  
  
The Aether employee was faster, having been in better condition than the other zombie when turned. Moon barely had time to realize what was going on before it threw itself at her, it’s sickly moaning turning into ravenous gurgling as it tried to bite her. Having already been near a corner, it managed to get Moon up against a wall, relentlessly pushing back as she tried to resist. The fresh zombie was too strong for her to handle, too heavy to push off. Moon almost felt like giving up…after all, she was only fending off the inevitable, right?  
  
But then she remembered what these things did to her mother, and something inside her grew red hot. She could barely stop herself as she feels rage take her mind whole.  
  
With the force of a train, Moon shoves the body off of her and slams it against the floor. Before it could even get back up, she shoves her foot on its chest and drives the metal handle right through its head, finding it almost satisfying how the monster dies beneath her.  
  
“Good fucking riddance.” She mumbles, feeling the adrenaline leave her. She snaps her head back up, looking for the other zombie but all she sees is Gladion and Wicke at the door, their eyes wide as saucers and the second body lying on the floor. From the looks of it, Wicke had stabbed the back of it’s skull with a knife, nice and neat.

  
Unlike Moon, who had practically obliterated the first zombie’s head with only a metal stick.  
  
  
“Moon….holy shit.” Gladion whispered, looking at the body briefly before turning away. “That was…”  
  
“Violent.” Wicke finished, looking pale. “Very violent.”  
  
Moon swallowed, stepping away from the mess. “What else was I supposed to do?”  
  
No one answered, leaving a thick silence between them instead. Eventually Wicke sighed and shook off the shock, putting a soft hand on Moon’s shoulders.  
  
“Let’s get you out of here and into a spare change of clothes. It’s a hazard to walk around with zombie materials on you.” She says, guiding Moon out the door.  
  
  
  
-

 

By morning, news had spread about what happened. Most of the adults gave her looks of sympathy, knowing that couldn’t have been easy to do, while Hau was avoiding eye contact at all costs. Moon had been unable to sleep for the rest of the night, unable to shake the idea out of her head that the zombie she killed had been human just moments before it stormed in.

  
Zombies weren’t people, right? Just a virus advanced enough to take control of a host’s body. The bodies were already dead, there was no bringing them back.  
  
Then why did she feel so guilty?  
  
“Hey, Moon, how you feeling today?” Kukui sat next to her, concern laced in his voice. Moon shrugged, playing with her breakfast.  
  
“I think I screwed up.”  
  
Kukui sighed, “I won’t say you didn’t, cousin. From what I understand, you mashed the person’s skull to a pulp.”  
  
“It wasn’t a person. It wanted to kill me.” Moon shot back, tense. “I couldn’t do anything else.”  
  
“Yeah, guess you’re right. It’s not like the rest of us haven’t already done the same thing you did.”  
  
“You only immobilized zombies by taking out their jaws and legs, right? That isn’t killing.” She said, shrugging.  
  
“It isn’t, but it’s still just as bad, if not worse.” He replied, “If we’re even considering them human anyway. From the looks of it…” Kukui paused, something like pain flashing through his eyes, “There’s no trace of humanity left in them.”  
  
Moon didn’t reply, agreeing silently. Kukui got up, patting her on the back before taking his breakfast bowl and walking away. Left alone again, she found herself drowning in her thoughts, now thinking about what Kukui had said.  
  
This virus couldn’t be incurable. While so-called “superbugs” did exist, they could at least try to solve the problem. Aether was the perfect place to do so, if they had to search for a cure anywhere. It had not only a bunch of capable scientist employees, but also state of the art equipment, perfect for researching in testing. If Moon was going to find a cure, it was going to be here.  
  
Walking over to Gladion, she sat down in front of him, a serious look washing over her face. Taking a deep breath in, she looked him dead in the eye and spoke.  
  
  
  
“I need to talk to Faba.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alolaimagines.tumblr.com (feel free to drop by and give me a request!!)

**Author's Note:**

> alolaimagines.tumblr.com :V


End file.
